Police Headquarters, Aycliffe and Harperley Training School

If Britain tops any international league tables it must surely be in pomp and ceremony. There is plenty of evidence here of the deep seated formality of public life, with the parade of local dignitaries, the inspections and the ubiquitous standing to attention. Inside the police headquarters itself there is a splendid switchboard, and a blackboard provides a simple picture of how well the force is doing, giving a percentage of crimes solved in each category of offence.

There was a police recruitment drive from 1945 onwards to coincide with the increase in crime, although there was a dip in crime in 1947 after the sharp increase during the war. The new police headquarters was soon followed by a redevelopment of Aycliffe, though the police headquarters no longer survives. Harperley Hall, as a Grade II listed building, once the seat of the Wilkinson family, has survived and still functions as a police training centre, recently refurbished; but has been greatly extended by a modern building housing state of the art forensic training facilities. Nearby, thanks to English Heritage, a prisoner of war camp that held Italian and German POWs has also been preserved.